Mumbai-Pune expressway: Traffic management system on track, bidder selection in final stage

The tender for selection of a bidder was floated by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) in 2019, but due to Covid and other reasons, it did not get responses and the process was delayed.

Implementation of the Intelligent or Highways Traffic Management System (I/HTMS) on the Mumbai-Pune expressway, which was stuck for the past two years, is finally on track with the bidder selection process in its final stages.

The tender for selection of a bidder was floated by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) in 2019, but due to Covid and other reasons, it did not get responses and the process was delayed.

Now, the lowest bidder has been selected out of three bidders, and the contract will be awarded soon.

“The tender was delayed due to a few issues, including Covid and lockdown, but the process has been expedited now. Three agencies showed interest, of which a Mumbai-based agency was the lowest bidder. The selection process of the agency is in its final stage and likely to be completed this year. After that, it will take 9-10 months for the system to go live after all the tests,” said an official.

The ITMS or HTMS project was announced in 2019 after the state highway police proposed it, and MSRDC was appointed as the nodal agency for it.

The 700-km Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg between Mumbai and Nagpur is also likely to have the system.

According to MSRDC officials, the 95-km Mumbai-Pune expressway is one of the busiest arterial corridors, handling about 60,000 vehicles per day, and has seen increasing accidents, fatalities and traffic jams. The major causes of the accidents are speeding, overloaded vehicles, unauthorized halts, and not following traffic rules and lane discipline.

The ITMS has been designed to reduce accidents and for effective management and regulation of traffic, deterring high-speed and dangerous driving, incident and accident mitigation. The total estimated cost of the system is Rs 160 crore for 10 years on Public Private Partnership basis, and the lowest bidding agency will be appointed for implementation, operations, repair, maintenance and other allied services.

The system will have an Average Speed Detection Systems at 39 locations, Lane Discipline Violation Detection System at 34 locations, and Weather Monitoring System at 11 Locations. The stretch will be under CCTV surveillance and there will be Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras to track vehicles along with high-tech mobile surveillance vans equipped with cameras, speed guns, e-challan machines.

A command and control centre will be located at Lonavala, apart from other centres for live monitoring at the expressway, officials said.

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